The lawmakers say Patrick McDonnell’s re-appointment should be delayed until pipeline investigations are complete
Kimberly Paynter reports for WHYY
A bipartisan group of state senators from Chester and Delaware counties wants to put off the reconfirmation of Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell until multiple criminal probes of Sunoco’s Mariner East pipeline projects are complete.
Led by Chester County Democrat Andy Dinniman, the group asked Sen. Gene Yaw, majority chair of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, and Sen. John Yudichak, the minority chair, to delay what is typically a routine hearing on reappointment, which is scheduled for Tuesday.
In the memo to Yaw and Yudichack, the senators, who represent areas impacted by Sunoco/Energy Transfer’s Mariner East pipeline project, pointed to four separate probes including criminal investigations by both the Chester County and Delaware County district attorneys as well as an investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General.
In addition to Dinniman, the senators on the memo include Democrats Daylin Leach, Katie Muth and Tim Kearney, and Republican Tom Killion.
The memo also points to an investigation by the state Ethics Commission into the actions of Gov. Tom Wolf’s aide Yesenia Bane who is married to a gas industry lobbyist, and who acted as Wolf’s liaison to DEP during the permitting of the project. The commission closed its investigation of Bane on April 19, clearing her of wrongdoing.
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